Al Gore Nets Another Fortune on Apple Stock By Javier E. David Former U.S. vice president Al Gore recently netted a huge payday by selling his cable station. Now, it appears he's making another big profit buying Apple's (AAPL) stock on the cheap.

Al Gore According to a filing with the Securities and Exchanges Commission, Gore -- a director on Apple's board -- exercised an option to purchase nearly 60,000 shares of the tech giant at the bargain basement price of $7.48, costing him a total of about $445,000.

But with Apple's current market price at about $500 a share, Gore's holdings are worth $29.75 million, giving him a huge windfall-on paper at least. Gore, however, could easily afford to buy Apple's stock at the prevailing market price.

In early January, the environmental crusader sold his Current TV venture to Qatar-based news organization Al Jazeera for $500 million. Published reports say the sale of Gore's 20 percent stake in the network - worth an estimated $100 million - would bring his net worth to about $300 million

If you had accumulated options to purchase Apple stock at a particular price, you could hold on to those options for years ( or even decades). If he had exercised those options in September when the stock peaked, he would have made an additional $6,000,000 and would have been able to keep more of it because of the Bush tax rates on capital gains (15% vs. the 20.0% Obama rate).

Just wondering why now, because the taxes should pound the hell out of him, just find it odd.There has to be some angle we ain't seeing, unless he sees he might have to migrate out of the country, migrate out of dollars, etc.

Considering that this is a conservative website, the number of folks going around bellowing socialist the socialist point of view on this thread is staggering.

Gore obviously has been holding some options for decades and finally exercised them. What is there about this that makes it newsworthy? He didn’t add a dime to his net worth - the options were valuable before he exercised them. He didn’t do anything illegal or stupid (this time).

There has been a lot of talk lately about “low-information” voters. On this thread we have seen a lot of “low information” posters. I hope our conservative voting is not as “low information” as some of the stuff I have been reading here.

48
posted on 01/19/2013 3:34:40 AM PST
by John Valentine
(Deep in the Heart of Texas)

From a financial perspective and as an ‘insider’, it only makes sense to exercise options like this if you know the stock is about to take a pounding and you expect the ultimate settling price of the stock to be BELOW the option price.

If you expect the stock to rise, you’d more likely leave the option dormant, as there is no reason to exercise, unless there is some major tax implication. Since he didn’t do this prior to January 1st, it’s not likely a tax concern.

Some options are granted with expiration dates. That may be a contributing factor.

It used to be that options grants to directors were reported to the SEC in regular filings. Might be worth taking a look to see what information is filed, relative to Apple stock option grants to directors. That might shed some light on this.

On the other hand, though he is a hypocrite of the first order, it’s not wrong to give him a hat tip and a “Good on ‘ys” for making out like a fat rat at the banquet of the wealthy. With the same breath, though, it’s required to tell him to go away and leave the rest of us alone.

49
posted on 01/19/2013 4:13:50 AM PST
by PubliusMM
(RKBA; a matter of fact, not opinion. 01-20-2013: Still seeking change.)

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.